The thermal lance, also known as oxygen lance, melting lance or burning bar, is a tool used in demolitions or locksmithing that has the ability to melt steel, penetrating practically any material thanks to the temperature reached. It can work submerged in fresh and salt water.

Drilling with the thermal lance or roughing with it was invented in France around the 1930s and was widely used in the Second World War in France to dismantle casemates, metal infrastructures...

It consists of an iron tube of suitable length (the longer the better) filled with a bundle of iron rods enriched with magnesium. Its use begins by heating, using a blowtorch, the free end of the thermal lance and then the passage of oxygen (4 to 7 kg/cm²) is opened so that it circulates inside the lance. This ensures that the ignition starts at the tip of the spear, which is ready to carry out the drilling. At this time the temperature at the tip ranges between 3,500 °C to 4,300 °C. Lance consumption is variable, 5 dm/min [1].